Reviews, March 2016

The Summer Prince —
Alaya Dawn Johnson

The
title of Alaya Dawn Johnson’s 2013 The
Summer Prince
mirrors Vinge’s The Snow Queen. A tip of the hat to Vinge, whether coincidental or deliberate, is
appropriate: both the Snow Queen of Tiamat and the Summer King of
Palmares Tres have the same retirement package. They get to be the
human sacrifice in a succession rite.

Both
novels concern themselves with romantic triangles, but the
relationships involved are very different. The triangle in The
Snow Queen
is toxic; that in The Summer Prince (the triangle between June Costa,
her old friend Gil, and Enki) may be complicated and stressful, but
in the end all three participants love and support each other. It’s
just too bad that Enki’s ambition to be the next summer king seems
likely to be fulfilled … because that means that Enki’s life is
going to be very, very short1.

Judging
by the poll on my Livejournal,
poor Reginald Bretnor
is well on his way to the obscurity that awaits most of us. I
remember him, not for his fiction or for the Future
at War
MilSF anthologies he edited (although, hrm, I do own them), but for
non-fiction books like this one: 1974’s Science
Fiction, Today and Tomorrow: A Discursive Symposium. He
also compiled
Modern Science Fiction: Its Meaning and Its Future (1953)and
The
Craft of Science Fiction: A Symposium on Writing Science Fiction and
Science Fantasy (1976)1.

Parts
of this collection provide an interesting snapshot of science fiction
forty-odd years ago. Other parts, um, well ….

The Gate of Ivrel —
C.J. Cherryh
Morgaine, book 1

Exiled
for killing one brother and maiming the other, Vanye can expect a
short and brutal life as an outcast. What he does not expect is that
he will inadvertently free Morgaine Frosthair from the mysterious
qujalin
mound known to the backward locals as Morgaine’s Tomb. This was no
tomb, but temporal trap. The artifact has held Morgaine suspended in
time for an entire century, ever since her last grand adventure ended
in disaster and rout.

Vanye’s
reward is obligatory servitude to Morgaine. Decades may have passed
since Morgaine last walked this world. but her task is not yet done.

Perhaps
I never heard of Charles A. Tan’s 2012 anthology Lauriat:
A Filipino-Chinese Speculative Fiction Anthology;
perhaps I read about it somewhere andforgot
about it. Thanks to Melita Kennedy’s generosity and Lethe Press’
recent sale, I have received and read this book … much to my delight.

I
could add a something here about the history of the Filipino-Chinese
community, but even a little research suggests that this cannot be
done (properly) in one paragraph.

Electric Forest —
Tanith Lee

The
Tanith Lee 1979 standalone Electric
Forest
is one of her straightforward SF stories.

Magdala
was clearly an exceptional child, but, sadly enough, not in any good way:

On
any planet of the Earth Conclave, fetal conception was the controlled
result of selective, artificial impregnation. This ensured that all
children born were healthy. Occasionally, however, mistakes occurred
in the area of contraception, and a fetus was conceived biologically.
Sometimes, such children were less than perfect. It had happened that
Magdala Cled was one of these.

which
is why her mother surrendered her to State Orphanage C; why her
fellow orphans tormented her; why despite her natural intelligence
she was consigned to a menial job; and why the name everyone called
her was not her legal name but rather “Ugly.”

Letters to Tiptree —
Alexandra Pierce & Alisa Krasnostein

Alexandra
Pierce and Alisa Krasnostein’s 2015’s Letters to Tiptree delivers
exactly what it promises in the title … and more!

While
women have always written science fiction, their presence in the
field grew phenomenally in the 1960s and 1970s. And many of these new
writers were very talented. I remember looking at a stack of new SF
novels I had just purchased and realizing that none of them had been
written by men.

But
there was one major talent to whom the men could point, a male talent
who proved that men were still players in the top leagues. To quote
Ted Sturgeon1

“nearly
all of the top newer writers, with
the exception of James Tiptree, Jr.,
were women.”

For
those of you tuning in late, James Tiptree, Jr. was the pen-name of
Alice Bradley Sheldon. But this book isn’t so much about Tiptree,
exactly2. It’s about how she affected her friends and readers …
which includes the readers who might have been her friends had she
not shot herself on May 19, 1987.

The Terracotta Bride —
Zen Cho

My
main complaint about Zen Cho is that she doesn’t publish as much
and as often as I would like1. Still, not only can I gleefully
anticipate the second Sorcerer
Royal
book, but 2016’s The
Terracotta Bride
has just been released. And just purchased by me.

You
might think death is the end to all of life’s problems. If you do,
then some day you will discover, as did the unfortunate Siew Tsin,
that this is not at all true.

Eyes of Amber —
Joan D. Vinge

I
hope to review all of the essential short story, novelette, and
novella collections published by Joan D. Vinge. You may ask what
subset of existing Vinge collections are on that list; the answer
would be “all three of them.” It would be easier if such a book
as The
Complete Collected Short Works of Joan D. Vinge
were to exist … but it does not. Alas.

I
will begin with 1979’s Eyes
of Amber and Other Stories,
which contains, not only the novelette Eyes
of Amber,
but several other stories. As advertised.

Master of the House of Darts —
Aliette de Bodard
Obsidian and Blood, book 3

2011’s
Master
of the House of Darts is
the third and to date final volume in Aliette de Bodard’s Obsidian
and Blood
series. In the previous volume, Harbinger
of the Storm,
High Priest of the Dead Acatl and his allies resorted to some rather
extreme measures to keep the Fifth World functioning (for the
moment). This volume explores the consequences of that bold gambit.

The
Empire now has a Revered Speaker and all should be well with the
world. Should. In fact, Revered Speaker Tizoc-tzin’s first holy war
gained a merely marginal victory and produced only a handful of
prisoners for sacrifice. The gods may have spared the world, for
now, but they certainly do not seem to be happy.

When
a warrior collapses and dies during a holy rite, it falls to Acatl
to investigate.

The Book of the Beast —
Tanith Lee
The Secret Books of Paradys, book 2

1988’s
The
Book of the Beast is
the second of Tanith Lee’s The
Secret Books of Paradys. The Book of the Damned was
a collection;
The Book of the Beast is
a novel. Made out of short stories! Mysterious are the ways of
authors … or perhaps publishers.

Young
scholar Rauolin had no inkling of the dark history of the D’Uscaret
clan when he took a lodging in their ancient home. Others are better
informed—the name alone is enough to reduce one prostitute to
hysterics—but poor Rauolin doesn’t begin to grasp the trouble he
has invited until after his assignation with the enchanting and quite
dead Helise D’Uscaret.

How to Suppress Women’s Writing —
Joanna Russ

I
owe my awareness of this book Joanna Russ’ 1983 work How to Suppress Women’s Writing to the ancient Usenet newsgroup
rec.arts.sf-lovers. I am shockingly under-read in Russ’ works1,
but this one I made a point of hunting down, because then, even
mentioning the title could be reliably counted upon to start a flame
war. Combustible = interesting. I suspect the main reason this work
is no longer flame war fodder is because it is annoyingly difficult
to acquire. It has been, what’s the right word? Oh, right. Suppressed.

As
I will show, it’s not enough to have good will towards women’s
writing. One also has to be continually on guard against tendencies
one may not be aware of having. Tendencies one may have convinced oneself one does not have.

Saturn Run —
John Sandford & Ctein

Ctein
and John Sandford’s Saturn Run came out to great acclaim in
2015. I am a big fan of hard SF set in our solar system, so I was
very interested. At the same time I am incredibly cheap, so I didn’t
run out and buy it. Instead, I put a hold on it at my local library1.
My decision to seek it out via my local library gave me a useful
measure of just how popular it is, because I had to renew my reserve
request twice and it still took six months for the book to show up in
my spot on Kitchener Public Library’s hold shelf.

Having read it, I am very curious as to how
certain plot elements have been received both inside the US and
outside it.

Six decades into the 21st
century, one unmotivated but very lucky grad student is in the right
place at the right time to witness the detection of an alien
starship. The aliens seemingly have no interest in Earth. Instead
they go into orbit around Saturn, rendezvousing with … something.

By the time China and America can dispatch
expeditions to Saturn, the aliens are gone. But whatever it was that
they visited is still orbiting Saturn. It might offer untold treasure
to whoever can reach it first! (Or perhaps a
devastating plague, but who could imagine a
downer like that?)

Jem —
Frederik Pohl

Frederik
Pohl’s 1979 standalone novel Jem
was one of my favourite Pohl books. I think it still has its
strengths. “Aging gracefully” is not one of them, but perhaps the
thick drifts of zeerust that festoon the novel can serve as a warning to modern writers.

It’s
… well, the year isn’t exactly clear but

Handsome, hoary old Carl Sagan [looked] like a spry octogenarian
instead of whatever incredible age he really was

so it’s at least set in 2024, possibly later1.

In
some ways the 21st
century is surprisingly familiar. It is plagued with the same energy
and population concerns as the 1970s, albeit on a much larger
scale—enough to have forced the world to abandon ideological
alliances in favour of resource-based blocs. In other ways it is
dramatically different: this is a world with functioning, if
extremely expensive, faster than light travel.

It
is also a world where nuclear proliferation has continued without
check, which is good, because the possibility of nuclear Armageddon
means there is a limit to international aggression (despite the
pressures of population bomb and resource depletion). Petty
harassment like sabotage and assassinations is OK, but nobody is
stupid enough to push past the limits of the endless cold war because
to do so is to risk the end of everything.

The Book of the Damned —
Tanith Lee
The Secret Books of Paradys, book 1

1988’s
The
Book of the Damned is
the first volume in Tanith Lee’s four volume series, The
Secret Books of Paradys.

“Paradys”
is an example of what our pals Kœssler and Derocquigny called “faux
amis du traducteur”
or “false friends.” That is also a good term for the boon
companions someone might find in Paradys. Paradys, this fantasy
world’s answer to Paris, may sound like Paradise,
but anyone seeking a lost Eden or even a walled garden in Paradys is
a fool.

Ariah —
B.R. Sanders

I
get to pick more of what I read these days than I did two years ago
… but I don’t begrudge the time spent reading what other people
select for me. From time to time they pick something interesting,
something that would have otherwise flown under my radar. Case in
point: B. R. Sanders’ 2015 novel Ariah.

Planning
his life seemed so straightforward to young Ariah: apprentice himself
to Dirva, master his skills as a mimic and empathic shaper, then find
some conventional niche to fill for the rest of his life. But, just
as moving from his backwater hometown Ardijan to the big city of
Rabatha brings a rude awakening about the true place of elves in the
Empire, so too will life with Dirva educate Ariah in ways he never expected.

Tales of the Starbuck Avenger! —
Jeffrey Wells

Tales
of The Starbuck Avenger!
by Jeffrey “Channing” Wells is a 2011 fix-up of material first
published on his Livejournal. (Remember LiveJournal? It’s a social
media platform, like MySpace or Ello, still used by several people.
More than two or three, outside Russia.) Fix-ups, novels created from
shorter works, have a long history in speculative fiction and I am
genuinely happy to see this tradition continue.

Tricia
“Trish” Hocking’s life as an unremarkable barista was doomed the
moment an excited man forced his way into the Gorham Street Starbucks
where Trish worked. Demanding a “venti
sulawesi double-shot dulce de leche espresso within the next three
minutes,”
the agitated customer insisted that it was a matter of life or death.
Well, some people take their coffee very seriously.

But
Trish’s old life really ended when on a whim she went out one night
to scale buildings and lurk on rooftops. Given the time of night and
the icy conditions, her multi-story plummet was likely inevitable.
The fact that she did not. on reaching the sidewalk, explode like a
tripe-filled balloon was more than a little odd.

Lord of Light —
Roger Zelazny

I
am afflicted with Zelazny-memory-loss syndrome: I have read many
books written by the late Roger Zelazny, but for some reason retain
little memory of them. It’s not because they are bad books, or even
boring books; they’ve been lauded by fans and pros alike. For
example, Roger Zelazny’s 1967 standalone novel Lord
of Light
won the Hugo and was nominated for the Nebula (losing to Delany’s The
Einstein Intersection)1.
Did I remember anything about it before I picked it up for a reread?
Not really.

Well,
that’s not completely true. There’s a truly wretched pun in the book:
that
I remembered, because apparently my brain hates me. And the beginning
has always stuck in my mind.

His
followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred
to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called himself Sam. He
never claimed to be a god, but then he never claimed not to be a god.

Sam’s
former friends and allies, on the other hand, have been positively
eager to claim divine status.

The Silver Sky —
Tanith Lee

Although
she may be best known for her novels and short-form collections,
Tanith Lee worked in media other than print. For example, fans of the
television show Blake’s 7 may know her as the author of the episodes “Sarcophagus” and
“Sand.” Lee also wrote for radio. People familiar with my
Livejournal More
Words, Deeper Hole
know that I have a long-standing interest in science fiction audio
dramas. When I discovered that Daughter of the Night
provided access to Lee’s The
Silver Sky,
which was broadcast on Saturday Night Theatreon
9 August 1980, I couldn’t resist downloading and listening to it.

Scientists
have come up with a theory suggesting that an actual time machines
might be possible. Solid British engineering of the sort that made
the Comet
and the R101 household names turned that theory into operational reality! Alas,
good old British politics may cut off the funding for the project
before it can send its first manned capsule into the depths of time.

Lead
researcher Paul is having none of that political nonsense! And so
with the same cool intellect that has left his marriage in ruins, he
quietly alters the schedule so that the next test flight will also be
a manned one. What could possibly go wrong?

Zulu Heart —
Steven Barnes
Bilalistan, book 2

Steven
Barnes’ Zulu
Heart
is a follow-up to 2002’s Lion’s
Blood.
It is also the final volume (to date) in Barnes’ Bilalistan
alternate history.

Four
years after the events of Lion’s Blood,
Walid Kai’s long-delayed marriage to his Zulu fiancée, Nandi, is finally at
hand. This could become complicated … and not just due to Kai’s
conflicted relationship with Nandi’s Zulu nation. Kai is already
married to Lamiya. Will Nandi and Lamiya will cooperate … or
quarrel?1. As if that weren’t enough drama, Kai’s position as
Walid, or leader, is going to pose even greater challenges.

Lamarchos —
Jo Clayton
Diadem, book 2

1978’s
Lamarchos
is the second installment in Jo Clayton’s Diadem
series; my review of the first book is here.
I plan to slowly work my way through the rest of the series
(especially if people keep tossing money at me to do so); I’m
hoping that I like the later installments more than I liked this one.

Our
heroine, Aleytys, has several long-term goals: find her mother’s
people, and find some way to master, if not remove, the alien
artifact currently meshed to her nervous system. She also has a
short-term goal: earn enough money to sustain herself and her baby.
For the moment, the short-term goal (survival) takes precedence.
That’s why Aleytys and her lover Stavver have made an uncomfortable
alliance with the questionably sane criminal mastermind, Maissa.

They
have been tasked to help out with what seems a straight-forward con
job: bilk some low-tech rubes on backwater Lamarchos out of valuable
gems. Aleytys’ psychic talents and Stavver’s criminal expertise
should make that easy-peasy.

If
only Lamarchos’ gods weren’t real. And very interested in what
Aleytys can do for them …

From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain —
Minister Faust

Minister
Faust has one of the cooler names in science fiction and I will admit that alone was enough to get me to give his 2007 standalone novel From
the Notebooks of Dr. Brain
a try. The novel examines a question that arises all too infrequently in superhero
universes: having finally taken the initiative, defeated their
super-villainous enemies, and consigned their former foes to eternal
prison, what the superheroes do next?